Theresa May was personally involved in lobbying the company, giving assurances to Nissan’s ousted chief executive, Carlos Ghosn, shortly before the decision. The market for diesel vehicles has slumped in Europe since the 2016 referendum, in part thanks to the Volkswagen emissions-cheating scandal, which led to much closer political scrutiny of the fuel’s environmental impacts. Buyers have been understandably wary of committing to diesel with the possibility of tougher rules or extra costs hanging over their cars. Nissan had planned to make the diesel model of the X-Trail in Sunderland. Overall Nissan production fell by 10.7% in 2018 to 442,000, but no carmaker has been immune: total UK production fell by 9.1% to a five-year low in 2018.

Source: The Guardian February 03, 2019 19:12 UTC